so ive been licensed for about 6 years now and done a fair bit of HF DX but lately ive been reading more and more about EME and honestly it sounds like the most insane thing you can do on VHF. bouncing signals off the moon. like thats just wild to me.

the problem is every time i start reading about the equipment requirements i get kind of overwhelmed. i understand you need a lot of antenna gain and a clean low noise receive setup but i dont really know where the thresholds are. like can you realistically do 2m EME with a pair of long yagis or do you basically need a dish? ive seen guys on the JT65 clusters working EME with what looks like modest stations but then other posts talk about needing arrays with serious eirp and i cant tell if those are the guys doing the initiating or if everyone needs that level.

also the timing thing with the moon windows confuses me a bit, i know the geometry has to be right for both stations but how often realistically can you get a shot at it, like weekly, a few times a month? my QTH has decent horizons to the east and south but there are some trees to the west that might cause issues depending on where the moon is rising or setting.

not expecting to work the world overnight just curious if a modest 2m setup with maybe 4 yagis and a good preamp is even worth trying or if im going to be frustrated the whole time

4 yagis on 2m is actually a reasonable starting point for digital EME, not going to lie it wont be easy but guys have done it with less. the key is really the system noise figure more than anything else -- if your feedline loss is eating your noise figure before the signal even gets to the preamp youre cooked. you want the LNA as close to the antenna as physically possible, ideally right at the feedpoint. MGF1302 or equivalent, get it down below 0.5dB NF if you can.

JT65B changed everything for small stations, before that you basically needed a massive array or a dish to even hear the moon. now with WSJT-X and a clean setup people are making contacts that would have been impossible 20 years ago. your 4 yagi setup would put you in the category where you can probably work other small stations if youre patient and pick your spots. big gun stations with dishes will hear you easier than you hear them obviously.

moon windows -- depending on your latitude you get maybe a window every day or every other day where the moon is at a usable elevation for both you and whoever youre trying to work. practically speaking for most of the US and Europe there are windows several times a week. use something like Heavensat or the built in tracking in WSJT-X to plan ahead. the 144 MHz EME contest weekends are the best time to start because big stations are actively calling and patient with small pistols.

yeah the tree situation might actually matter more than you think depending on how tall they are and your elevation angle to the moon. i lost like 45 minutes of a window once because the moon was coming up behind a treeline and by the time i had a clean shot my contact window with a station in Japan was basically gone. something to factor in when you plan your first attempts.

one thing nobody really mentioned to me when i started was the relay coax switching if youre planning to run any power -- you need to protect that LNA on transmit obviously and the sequencing has to be right or you will blow it. lost one that way. just saying get the sequencer sorted before you key up for the first time.